Tufting pin or button.



No. 647,158. Patented Apr. 10, I900.

- W. P. SENG.

TUFTING PIN 0B BUTTDN.

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VVENDELIN I SENG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE SENG COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

TUFTING PIN or: BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 647,158, dated April 10, 1900. Application filed February 21, 1900. s a N 6,094- N model.

To ctZZ whom; it may concern:

Be it known that I, WENDELIN P. SENG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tufting Pins or Buttons, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to upholsterers tuft ing pins or buttons.

The objects are to produce a cheap and simple tufting pin or button the shank of which is adapted to bend more gradually than heretofore and which I accomplish byproducing a comparatively-longer neck or bending portion, and, furthermore, in so disposing the parts as will enable me to produce a comparatively-wider stronger neck and yet at the same time not to materially weaken the locking-prongs. 1

A further object of the invention is to produce an efficient washer or locking-plate designed to be employed in connection with the styles of tufting pins or buttons enumerated, and more particularly with the one herein described and claimed, the said washer or locking-plate being of such construction as will facilitate the application thereto of the tufting pin or button, and when once applied to successfully resist any accidental disengagement.

. Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of a tufting pin or button constructed in accordance with myinvention and illustrating my preferred form and shown as it appears before bending. Fig. 2 is a similar 'view, the button being shown as it would appear afterapplication and after bending. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating a slightly-modified form of'the invention; and

Fig. 4 is a view showing such modified form of button as it would appear after being applied and bent. my improved locking-plate o'r Washer. Fig. 6 is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 7 is a bottom plan View, the tufting pin or button being applied and bent to its locking position. Fig. 8 is a sectional view through a piece of upholstery, the tufting pin or button and locking-plate or washer being shown in position.

Fig. 5 is a sectionalview or Similar letters of reference, indicate similar parts throughout the figures of the drawings.

The pin or button comprises the usual head Ct and shank 5, these two members preferably being struck up integrally from sheet metal, as is usual. In the finished button the head is of course suitably covered, but in the illustration it is shown uncovered or, in other words, as stamped out and struck up. The shank b is at suitable opposite points of its two edges cut or slit, as at a, inwardly a short distance on preferably horizontal lines for a distance of about one-fourth its width,

such cuts being somewhat abruptly disposed from their inner ends in a longitudinal direction toward the entering or penetrating point I) of the shank, as indicated at 0. occupying about one-third the length of the shank. The cuts a? are preferably curved, as shown, so that they more nearly approach each other at their middles. If desired, however, these longitudinal cuts may be straight and parallel, as will be hereinafter mentioned. In either instance there is formed by the cuts 0t a a pair of opposite outer companion prongs d and an intermediate elongated neck (2.

In Fig. 3 I have varied the construction slightly. The shank is cut inwardly on horizontal lines f, preferably the same as in the former construction; but instead of producing the continuing longitudinal cuts on curved lines two parallel longitudinal slits or cuts g are produced, thus forming the prongs d and the intermediate neck e, as before. The effect is practically the same, as will be readily apparent.

The pin or button having been thrust through the upholstering, as shown in Fig. 8,

it only remains to apply the locking-plateor ,washer j thereto, the lower portion of the shank 19 thereof passing through the usual "slot is in said plate or washer. The lower portion of the shank is then deflected or bent to a horizontal position, as shown in Figs. 2, 4, and 8, thus causing the prongs which remain unbent to dispose themselves transverse the opening in the locking-plate or washerywhereby a withdrawal of the pin or button is impossible.

It will be observed that the neck of the shank being longer than usual a gradual bending thereof results in contradistinction to the abrupt angular bend resulting from a short neck or Where the bending occurs at the ends of the slits, and hence the neck is not so liable to fracture as heretofore. Furthermore, inasmuch as the neck only is bent and not the prongs the width of the neck may be increased at the expense of the prongs, and yet the latter remaining in their original unbent condition will not be in the least weakened or rendered less efficient. The center or narrowest portion of the neck is naturally the weakest and is the center of the gradual bend, but practically the entire neck bending the chance of afracture at any point along the same is obviated.

The conventional form of locking-plate or washer may be employed, or, as shown and as preferred, the novel form of washer j. This washer is of the usual concavo-convex formvand is countersunk toward its center, at which point anoblong opening 70 is produced, the stock forming the opposite longitudinal edges of the blank being downwardly bent to produce a pair of depending parallel lips or flanges Z, which are transverse the prongs d ofthe tufting button or pin and in a manner interlock therewith, thus resisting any attempt at separation of the parts, while at the same time they facilitate the application of the washer to the pin or button.

By the words inward and downward or inwardly and downwardly employed in the claims I mean a longitudinal cut extending from one edge of the shank, either transversely across or curved, and terminating in a longitudinal out, either curved or straight, in contradistinction to an inclined out, whereby I am enabled to produce an elongated neck capable of bending gradually or, as stated in the claims, capable of bending between the ends of the downward cut.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The herein-described improved tufting pin or button, the same comprising a shank having its opposite edges provided with inwardly and downwardly disposed cuts producing an intermediate elongated neck adaptb, having at its opposite edges inwardly and downwardly extending cuts, as at a, a producing the side locking-prongs,d, and the intermediate elongated bending neck, 6, the latter being adapted to bend at points intermediate the cuts a 3. The herein-described improved tufting pin or button, the same comprising a shank inwardly and downwardly slit or cut from its edge, producing a locking-prong and an elongated neck adapted to bend at a point intermediate the said out.

4. The herein-described improved Washer for tufting pins or buttons, comprising a central oblong opening approximating the shank of a tufting pin or button in cross-section, the said washer being concaved around said opening, and the stock of the blank from which the washer is formed being downwardly bent at the opposite longitudinal edges of the opening and below the same forming opposite longitudinally-disposed parallel flanges or lips.

5. The combination with a tufting pin or button, the shank of which is inwardly and downwardly slit from its edges to form longitudinal side locking-prongs and an intermediate neck bent at a point between its ends, of a washer having a central opening approximating the shape of the pin or button shank in cross-section and, a pair of depending transverse lips or flanges.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WENDELIN P. SEN-G.

Witnesses:

G. J. BIsBE, F. J. SENG. 

